Rare Sahara Desert rains filled lakes that hardly ever see water
Satellite images reveal ample water filling desert lakes that are usually bone dry for years at a time
Heavy rains that drenched portions of the Sahara Desert this past summer filled lakes in Algeria that are typically dry for years at a time.
These lakebeds are a remnant of a time thousands of years ago when the climate over the Sahara Desert was more humid and supportive of vegetation than it is today.
RELATED: Rare desert rains may have stifled Atlantic hurricanes this summer
Exceptionally rare bouts of rain washed over southern portions of the Sahara Desert this past summer, rooted in an unusual trend in the seasonal pattern that typically produces Atlantic hurricanes.
Tropical disturbances over central Africa form within a region called the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). These waves move across the centre of the continent and out into the Atlantic Ocean, where they can seed the development of hurricanes during the late summer and early fall.
This year, however, the ITCZ was farther north than usual, a migration that sent tropical disturbances moving north over the Sahara Desert. These systems brought a bounty of heavy rains to the arid, sand-covered lands of countries like Algeria.
NASA’S MODIS Aqua satellite captured the aftermath of the rare desert rainfall, showing typically dry lakebeds full of water. The above image shows a comparison between August 2024 and September 2024, with multiple lakes in central Algeria full with enough water to take a steamy swim.
A recent study revealed just how rare the midsummer rains really were. Joëlle C. Rieder, with the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Zurich, Switzerland, led research into lake-filling episodes (LFEs) at Sebkha el Melah, a dry lakebed in central Algeria.
Rieder and their team found that there were hundreds of heavy precipitation events in the region between 2000 and 2021, but only six of those episodes produced enough precipitation to fill Sebkha el Melah. All of those events involved rainfall enhanced by nearby mountains.
The rains that hit Algeria this past summer were more than enough to fill the lake several metres deep in spots, according to NASA. All that excess water may stick around for a while yet. NASA added that Sebkha el Melah took four years to completely dry out when it filled up after a storm in 2008.
This article's top video contains graphics provided courtesy of Live Science.
